Background

The Policy design lab project is a two-three year project initiated at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. The project aims to develop an inventory of policy design tools for application at the national/ state level. This project is titled a ‘design lab’ initiative as it operates at the interface of public policy theory and practice; it seeks to provide an interface for users to ‘mix and match’ policy design tools as per the need and context; it aims to provide an interactive platform for sharing and exchange of perspectives and experiences of diverse users and it aims to capture diverse policy situations that may require different and/or new policy design tools. For example, integrating user experience with policy design tools that have been used to deal with specific uncertainties in the policy landscape.

Purpose

The project aims to provide a ready reference for policy practitioners to assist them in policy design. In the later stages the project is expected to evolve into an interactive platform for users to also share their experiences with the application of specific policy design tools.

Approach

The Policy design lab is expected to develop in a phased manner starting with (1) a policy design tools inventory and (2) several design workshops and related publications leading to (3) a wiki-type policy design web database and subsequent projects linked to it. We hope that the policy design lab will eventually evolve into a platform for users to also select policy design tools for specific purpose and context.

Intended Audience

The intended users or audience for this project are policymakers and practitioners at the national and state levels, policy advisors and public policy researchers and students.